just ink

How often do you end up with a pen that isnt yours? Maybe after writing a check? After filling some paperwork out? Oh well, its just a pen. Right?

Oh no! Not to a lot of businesses! They find it necessary to attach large, plastic spoons to the ends of pens. Sometimes they attach straws that have been cut so that the ends look like hair. Sometimes the pens are tied down by pieces of string or small chains. Sometimes they attach pieces of paper that make little flags at the ends that have nasty messages like,

"STEAL THIS PEN AND HAVE BAD KARMA FOREVER!"
or
"Return this pen or else slimy night crawlers will take advantage of you endlessly." (Seriously, I saw it at a coffee shop down south...)

It seems pretty ridiculous how protective these people are of their pens. A box of decent pens must cost no more than $5. And I'm sure you get at least a dozen. -That is less than fifty cents per pen. However, right next to the cheap pens, they have pieces of candy that you can take as you please. So, if pens are seriously so inexpensive, and everyone ends up with someone else's pen occasionally, can't we all just sort of have an unspoken, unwritten tradition of a friendly, pen-exchange? It could be kind of like the "Take a penny. Leave a penny." -Except it'd be even less structured... It would just flow, like ink.